Saturday, March 20, 2010

travel update from Juayua el Salvadore

Saludos Amigos, Wow. I mean wow. I have been travelling a way from any computers now for about 2 weeks. Ileft San Marcos la Laguna in Guatemala and went to the Pacific coast of Guatemala to a town called Monterico. I am travelling with "los Africanos" Cornealius and the Merry Prankster.We are now in El Salvadore a very small country in Central America. that makes it 62 countrys that I have visited. This was the only country in Central America that I had not yet been to. We are LOVING it here! This place had a bad reputation for travel and it is tiny and out of the way so I never bothered to come before. I cant speak for how it was, but it is just lovely now. I have so far only been inthe western part, So I dont know yet how the rest is but I will write and tell you all as I continue to explore. So We left San Marcos and travelled most of the day by mini van to Antigua and then bus to Escuintla and then another bus to Tasisco and then anothe little bus to Avellana and then a motor launch through an estuary to Monterico. unbelieveably beautiful birds here and the rare and totally far out 4 ey fishes. These little fish have 4 eyes. No kidding. they have two eyes that stay above the water to look out for birds that want to eat them and two below to find other fishes to eat. They are really cool looking. Monterico is a nice little town. we had a very enjoyable 5 days there. The beach is of black sand variety with lots of titanium in the sand. It is the blackest of the black sand beaches I have been to. Very nice and 5 star fantastic sunsets every night. the only negative about the place is that the surf break is only 3 or 5 meters from the shore and it has a strong undertow. this makes it virtually impossible to swim. Muy peligroso (VERY dangerous) which really is dis-heartening because the weather is very hot and the water is a perfect warm temperature to swim in, but alas, you've got to have a death wish to do any more than get wet here! still we enjoyed our selves and took lots of long tranquil walks on the shore and did a tour of the mangrove forest and saw lots of birds and fishes and had a great time. We left and went across the border to El Salvadore and went to Barro de Santiago just about 40 kilometers from Monterico as the birds fly but about 4 hours as the buses and pick-up truck taxi flys! Still a nice enough journey and no problems at customs. El Salvadore uses American dollars as the official currencey so I traded the last of my quetzales for US dollars and we arrived in the sweltering mid day heat in Barro de santiago. The town itself is rather ugly and lots of trash everywhere. The People are friendly and we stayed at Capricho guest house. we stayed in a 5 bed dormitory and we were the only guests in it so we had the room to ourselves for $10.00 each. as compared to a private 3 bed-room which would have cost $57.00. The thing is that it is 3 kilometers down the beach from the town and so it is rather isolated. Fine with us!! The staff was great and very friendly. The restaurant was quite expensive and the food was not very good. $4.00 for an iced coffee and intstant mashed potatoes and frozen veggetables. they had a barbque and we bought our own food and cooked on the grill and maria boilde water for us so we made ouir own coffee and tea. We bought a liter of water from her the first day for $1.50 but after that we bought our water in town for a dollar per gallon. like .25 cents a liter instead of 1.50...All in all though I guess I would go back if I was ever there again... Buses are cheap and frequent here in El Salvador and we bussed our way along the ruta de los flores (the route of flowers) to Laguna Verde. there we rented a nice house with a spectacular view for 10 dollars each per night. Amazing views and a well equipped kitchen and a little weber bar b que so we did our own cooking. We took most excellent hikes in the forests and through the coffee plantations on both days and on the third day left early and now we are here in Juayua. They have a food fair here every Saturday and Sunday and so we decided why not go and check it out. We are eating very well here and tomorrow we will take a long hike to see 7 waterfalls including a 50 meter high one and they all have nice pools so we can swim in the spray at each fall. (this is what we are told. we will know better after we go ourselves). El Salvadore is the least visited country in Central America. it is the most de-forested and the most densly populated. So far, the parts I have been in are absolutely beautiful and the forests are lovely. I know this will change when I go farther south, but I must say that thus far this country is much nicer than I actually expected it to be. I am eating a lot of Pupusas which are little corn cakes stuffed with all kinds of delicious things. Ayote y quesilla is my favorite. Ayote is a squash not unlike a pumpkin and quesilla is a cheese like mozerella but more bland. they cost 25 cents each and two is plenty! they come with a Salvadoran saurkraut and tomato sauce that is fresh tomatoes, cooked and pureed with garlic. I also like the black bean and quesilla ones too. Great avocados here as well and other lovely delicasies and excellent ice creams too. oh yes, did i not mention the girls here are very pretty? hah!! too bad I am an old guy!! any way I already have a ticket to go back to South America I fly into Medellin Colombia on 29 April and from there will head south to Ecuador and will stay with the beautiful and fabulous Estelita in Vilcabamba. My life is like a box of chocolates...and she is my chocolate covered sweet cherry! I will update you all again in a week or 2 or 3. Until then I hope this letter finds all of you happy and healthy.peace and love,Rambling Robert"Giving money and power to government is like giving whisky and car keys to a teen age boy" PJ O'Rourke"If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest."Thomas Jefferson"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." Buddha